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The New York Fed today announced that it has initiated a competitive bid process in response to several reverse inquiries for the MAX CDO holdings in the Maiden Lane III LLC portfolio (ML III). The New York Fed has directed BlackRock Solutions, the investment manager for ML III, to conduct a competitive bid process for the entirety of the MAX CDO holdings, consistent with past practices. All-or-none bids will be due on April 26, 2012, at which point the New York Fed will decide whether to sell depending on the strength of the best bid.

The following eight broker-dealers have been invited to submit bids for the MAX CDO holdings based on the strength of their expressions of interest in these holdings:

Barclays Capital Inc.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc.

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC

Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.

Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Merrill Lynch Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC

Nomura Securities International, Inc.

Consistent with the current investment objective of ML III, the New York Fed, through BlackRock Solutions, is exploring the sale of assets held by ML III, including the MAX CDO holdings. There is no fixed timeframe for the sales; at each stage, the Federal Reserve will sell an asset only if the best available bid represents good value for the public, while taking appropriate care to avoid market disruption.

Currently, the New York Fed publishes on its website each month a list of all the securities held by ML III. In order to allow the public to track progress of asset dispositions, the New York Fed will also provide a list of any holdings sold by ML III within the previous month. In addition, it will provide quarterly updates on total proceeds from sales, including a breakdown by counterparty. Finally, after ML III sells its last position, the New York Fed will provide further details regarding these transactions, including a security-by security listing that shows which entity purchased the security and the price it paid ML III, ensuring timely accountability without jeopardizing the ability to generate maximum sale proceeds for the public.